4"Hairline crack at muzzle cap area in rod channel

[rootnuke]

There is a hairline crack roughly 4" long from the end of the muzzle cap in the rod channel of the stock. I think it was caused by me in the process if installing the barrel pins to connect the barrel.

In closer inspection I can separate the crack at its widest point between 1/32" and 1/16". It goes back together but obviously there is a weakness there.

I know when the muzzle cap is installed this will be drawn closed, but is there any epoxy or glue I could work in the crack to bond it prior to the muzzle cap.

Other solutions welcome.

 

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

If'n it were mine, good old Elmers Glue should do the trick... :winking:

 

[rootnuke]

ok 1 vote for Elmers...

But what I'm talking about is some super-duper glue that is so stronge you gotta keep it in to different cans before you mix it.

You can build a battleship with it. You can sand it. You can stain it.

If you dropped a bomb on your gun, this is the only stuff that would be left.

If there is no such adhesive then as much as I appreciate the Elmers glue option there has got to be something else.

If there is not then I happen to have a "Family Size" bottle of Elmers Wood-workers glue ready and waiting.

 

[jh45gun]

ok 1 vote for Elmers...

But what I'm talking about is some super-duper glue that is so stronge you gotta keep it in to different cans before you mix it.

You can build a battleship with it. You can sand it. You can stain it.

If you dropped a bomb on your gun, this is the only stuff that would be left.

If there is no such adhesive then as much as I appreciate the Elmers glue option there has got to be something else.

If there is not then I happen to have a "Family Size" bottle of Elmers Wood-workers glue ready and waiting.

Brownells glass bedding works great for fixing cracks in stocks along with the glass bedding it was intended for. Lots of stocks are fixed with it. If you are cheap like a lot of us or do not want to spend the money good old 5 min epoxy or its longer setting brother will work just as well also. The epoxy cost under 4 bucks at most hardware and places like walmart and kmart or at most lumber yards. The glass bedding will set you back 15 to 20 bucks at most gun shops or you may have to order it or have them order it for you if the local gun shop or gunsmith does not carry it. The choice is yours both will work well as both are epoxies you have to mix and both work with a heat action. WIth the glass bedding kit you will get dyes to match the epoxy to the wood and I suppose it may be a bit more refined and you get more other than that they are both basically the same. Jim

 

[hwalker]

Speaking as a woodworker and cabinetmaker - using plain old white wood glue (Elmer's, Titebond, etc) on a long grain to long grain wood crack, as you describe, will make a stronger joint than the wood by itself. The main time a glued wood joint is weak is on end grain.

Just put a dab of glue in the crack while holding it open, so that glue can cover as much of the surface inside the crack as possible. Then squeeze the crack closed, wipe off all glue squeezeout with a damp, not wet, rag, then tape or rubber band it to put clamp pressure on the area until the glue cures, about 3-4 hours for initial cure, 24-48 for complete curing.

Be sure to scrape or sand the area around the repaired area throughly, or you will have areas that will not stain correctly, due to glue in the wood grain. If you are careful to clean up all squeezeout before it dries, you should not have any problems.

 

[jh45gun]

One thing to consider and yea I have used a lot of elmers it is dang good stuff so is gorilla glue I think that is even stronger as I glued a bridge on a guitar with it once which takes lots of tension and it did not budge! Elmers while strong I do not think takes the stress that Epoxy or Gorilla glue does. The one thing in its favor it does a good job on wood joints and is a lot more economical in price which I think is why a lot of wood workers use it as it goes farther and does work. IMHO for stock work I think epoxy is better. Jim

 

[atr]

My son dropped a fairly expensive .22 and cracked the forestock . Just hairline but it was noticable . The crack ran in from the end about 5 inches and when i took the stock off and pulled on each side of the barrel channel i could open the crack about 1/16th of an inch . I drilled 2 1/8th inch holes through the stock with the first being about one inch from the end and the second being about 3 inches in . The holes were straight through from side to side . I cut 2 lengths of 1/8th inch wooden dowling and smeared them with Elmers wood glue and tapped them into the holes . Just before doing that i spread the crack and ran a bead of glue in it . The dowling was cut so that it sat just below flush on each side of the stock . I put some cloth on each side of the stock and C clamped it . I gave it a day to set up and harden and then i used a dab of wood filler on the head of each end of the dowling to bring them up flush with the outside edges of the stock . After it hardened i lightly sanded it and then re-stained it . It's now probably stronger than it ever was and even at very close inspection the crack or the dowling can't be seen .

 

[atr]

P.S. , use masking tape around the stock before drilling . It will help prevent splintering when the bit goes in and comes through .

 

any good glue will work, any already mentioned or superglue gel. get it into the crack, not on the surface and put some preasure on it until it cures.
Might want to check and see why it occurred before proceeding or you may wind up with the split moving in another direction.

 

[Birddog6]

Most I have see this happen to was because of one of 3 things.

1. Forcing the barrel into too tight a inlet.. (You must insure you didn't have too tight a inlet in the beginning. If you did, you need to relieve the inlet before repairing the crack)

2: Not removing the barrel properly & a sideways motion will split this area in a heartbeat.

3: When removing a barrel, letting the flared swamp muzzle end go into the stock deeper (down the barrel channel) and a lil bump on the end of the forestock, dang it is split.

Not to worry. A lil Elmers wood glue or Superglue (Medium), just about anything will fix it. Personally I would use Elmers wood glue & wipe the excess with a damp paper towel or rag as it cleans up best & holds wonderfully on a break like this & the glue joilt will be stronger than the wood beside it.
Don't slop glue all over, open the crack work glue in with a exacto blade, then close the crack, wipe off excess with a very damp cloth or paper towel, then wipe it dry, & put the barrel in the stock & wrap some rubber bands around it so you KNOW the crack is closed.

Let it dry good before ya proceed.

Your forestock cap will cover part of this & most likely you will not see the break especially if it is on the bottom & usually not a real noticable thing.

Custom Muzzleloaders & Custom Knives

 

[54JNoll]

I agree ... a good wood glue is all you need.

From your description is sounds like the crack is in an area that will be coverd by the muzzle cap and the barrel. By carefully removing the excess glue with a damp rag as Birddog6 suggests you should be able to stain the stock in that area just fine.

 

[Zonie]

54JNoll: I'm glad you mentioned the staining aspect of the repair.
Good ole Wood Glue wiped off properly won't effect the staining much but the "Super Glues" (which will do a good job of bonding wood to wood) won't take stain at all.
If you use SuperGlue on a Maple stock your planning on staining, expect to see the blond wood looking back at you unless you sand the area down. Even then, the crack will be light colored.

 

[rootnuke]

54JNoll: I'm glad you mentioned the staining aspect of the repair.
Good ole Wood Glue wiped off properly won't effect the staining much but the "Super Glues" (which will do a good job of bonding wood to wood) won't take stain at all.
If you use SuperGlue on a Maple stock your planning on staining, expect to see the blond wood looking back at you unless you sand the area down. Even then, the crack will be light colored.

I'm leaning toward the old standby Woodworkers glue. I think if Super-Glue was all it was stacked up to be they would build buildings with it.
I have seen situations where cabinet makers were not watching and would leave glue finger prints. When they tried to clean the wood it was not done properly. Then when stained you can see all these little finger print marks where the stain was blocked by the glue residue. Cleaning if glue residue is VERY important.

I am considering in order to have more of a glue surface and strength to make myself a small 1/16" maple wafer, create a 1/16" slit, glue and insert it cross-grain between the break. What do you think?

 

[Zonie]

I think the 1/16 inch wafer will be more trouble than it's worth.
As things are right now, you have two sides to the crack and they match each other exactly. You can't ask for a better joint than that.
Anything you make or cut and insert will not match the surrounding wood nearly as well as the existing crack matches itself. Also, inserting a wafer means you will have two glue joints instead of one. I can't see how this can be in improvement over just working with the one crack.

If you decide to forget the wafer and just use wood glue, you might want to thin down the glue with a little water. Not a lot, just enough to allow it to flow easily.
It will flow down into the smallest area of the crack better than the thick stuff in the bottle will.
Also, use quite a lot of it so the crack is totally coated.

Clamp it up, wipe off the excess that squeezes out and let it sit overnight.
No one will ever know its there when your done.

 

[LSU TIGER]

I've done this, so I know it works. Use epoxy (eith the five minute or the regular) and color it with Brownell's dye. After sanding and staining, NO ONE will see it. :thumbsup: I have a few spare packets if you want one to try.